Ornithorhynchus anatinus (Platypus; duck-billed platypus)

Wikipedia Abstract

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), also known as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth. The animal is the sole living representative of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), though a number of related species have been found in the fossil record.

EDGE Analysis

The notion of the duck-billed platypus possessing a bird-like horny bill originated from examinations of dried specimens. The bill is actually soft, moist and leathery and also highly sensitive. The platypus is the most evolutionary distinct mammal alive today. It is the only representative of an entire family of mammals dating back to the Cretaceous period (146-65.5 millian years ago), and one of only five species in the order Monotremata. Monotremes differ from all other mammals in that they lay eggs covered by a shell that hatch outside the mother?s body. Monotremes are also unique in that they have only a single passage, the cloaca, for both excretion and reproduction.